Out of Orbit
by Fiona Fargazer
Summary: AU Saturn is found as a boy and brought in by Akagi (Cyrus) so that he can use him for his natural skills. Later when Akagi disappears not all the team is too thrilled about letting 15-year-old Saturn run the show. What happens after they get rid of Saturn and Akagi returns? This is connected with my other stories.
1. Prologue

Out of Orbit

Fiona Fargazer and Starscout-Lost

_NOTE: This story is in connection with the other four stories about Team Rocket. As usually there is AU-ness involved in this case Team Galaxy's members are placed after they are shown in the show, but then I have not seen much of the Sinnoh stuff in the show. I don't like it much after Hoenn to be honest, but the information on Team Galaxy is based more off the game, but still loosely._

* * *

Prologue:

-Seven Years Ago

Dust of several years puffed into the air like a swarm of startled insects as the rusty door creaked forward into the room. For the first time in ages the boot of a team member stepped into the stillness, but this boot did not belong to the same uniform that matched the grimy, embossed insignia which hung above the old desk across from the door. It belonged to the team known as Galaxy, which anytime before the end of Old Team Rocket would not have dared to cross paths with the likes of Giovanni's men, but now like vultures this smaller and assumed inferior team flew in to see what was left of the carrion.

Leading this small company of about twelve grunts of matching hair, contact lenses and clothing was the boot of Jupiter, a high ranking commander, and she stepped boldly if not a bit smugly into the layer of matted dust. Her entrance was damaged a little when she had to pause to cough some dust away.

Stepping further into the room, she allowed the grunts to follow after her. One held open the door for the others until all were assembled.

"It was abandoned before the fall of the great and mighty Giovanni's criminal empire," said Jupiter, crossing her arms with a mocking grin as she stared at the old logo, an outward sign of what had happened to that miserable team. The once proud red "R" had been covered in dust and cobwebs and its color had chipped and faded into a sad pinkish maroon. "They closed many facilities in the Johto Region hoping to reopen them when things as wars with the Northern Region and mind-warping their own agents in Orre like pokémon had been completed."

"Will there be anything left, commander?" asked the usual simple-headed, Galactic Grunt.

The commander threw her head toward the one who had spoken.

"That's what we're here to find out, stupid," said Jupiter with a contradicting smile. "We're to scout out this base and have it completely sorted through and catalogued by the time High Commander Akagi arrives." She glanced up at a cobweb rather close to her face. "Not to mention cleaned up and respectable, so he doesn't have to deal with this mess like we do." Then she returned to her company. "Is that all clear?"

"_**Hai**_!" exclaimed the grunts.

"Nobu!" Jupiter then said.

"_Hai_, Commander Jupiter," said one grunt stepping forward. He was the only grunt that stood out from the others, for aside from looking a little older than most, his competence (which was better than most) earned him the privilege of cutting his hair the way he pleased. In this case it was a close buzz, though it did have to be the same futuristic greenish blue as all the others.

"You take half the group down that way," Jupiter said pointing. "I'll take the others down to the right here."

"_**Wakarimashita**_!" said Nobu with a robotic salute; then turning, he motioned for six to follow him to the left, leaving Jupiter with six more at her own command which she promptly led away as well.

The way she had sent Nobu proved darker and filthier than hers, not that Nobu would complain of course, but he knew that their lady commander had no love of filth. Although most would not have guessed it of her, she was almost a tad obsessive compulsive about it back at Home Base. She believed in the phrase "cleanliness next to godliness", and it was Commander Jupiter not Commander Akagi that made sure everything was clean and orderly at the base when she was not doing what she loved best, being out in the field. She took this whole old Team Rocket base situation pretty well considering, but the chance to take over anything from Team Rocket, even an old abandoned site as this, would be far worth it for the team.

Expansion was the craving of Team Galaxy. Akagi had not been in the least bit idle to snag territory while the getting was good. They had in the past few years snagged most of the territory in Johto already, and the Orange Islands would soon be completely under Galaxy jurisdiction. Team Rocket, though still proud and wiser than most teams, now had been reduced in size and greatly crippled. It would not be long before Galaxy would move in on Kanto itself if their growing power prevailed.

But even now, some feared that going to this base would not be wise. Abandoned though it happened to be, it lay dangerously close to the borders of the Kanto Region. If they happened to be sited by any of those ninja neo-Rocketers, their expansion could come to a quick end. Who knew what they were capable of; they could assassinate the whole team as far as Galaxy knew.

As Nobu's mind trailed along these lines and he looked around for anything that may contain plans or secrets of any kind that could be updated by the scavenging party, he was suddenly interrupted by a gasp from behind him.

"What? Did you see a spider?" joked a grunt.

Nobu turned around as the one who had gasped, Yoshi, answered, "No! I just thought I saw something move up there."

Above them an unsteady balcony ran along above the dark corridor they traveled on now. Tinted skylight windows held piles of natural debris in the form of sticks, leaves, and dirt and possibly pokémon nests. The grunt could have seen a shadow from anything through that.

Unconcerned, Nobu returned ahead of him and said, "Keep moving. There're a few rooms up here. We'll split up and have a look."

So, on they went with no more disturbances for the time being. Empty cages, old, dusty computers that no longer worked when plugged in, and cabinets made up most of what could be found. Nobu had the grunts check the cabinet files, but it seemed most revolved around the status of pokémon and staff that inhabited this place at the time of its use. No plans or gadgetry of any kind could be found that would be of use to the present.

"I don't like this place," he heard one female grunt, Ren, mutter. "It gives me the creeps."

"It's like you can almost feel the Team Rocket ghosts spying on us," agreed another grunt with a wary sigh. He had been the one who had seen the shadow earlier.

"Oh, don't be such babies," retorted a third. "There's nothing to be afraid of!"

"He's right," said Nobu. "We're to be future minded in Team Galaxy. There will be no room for old-fashioned, superstitious nonsense."

"But—" squeaked Ren.

Nobu turned and silenced her with a stern look.

"Besides," added another. "No Team Rocket agent died here, did they?"

"That's beside the point," Nobu said with a shrug. "Come on. There's nothing in this wing. We should return to the lobby and see how well Jupiter and her group did."

"_Hai_, Nobu-san," agreed the others.

#

"I think I found out what they were doing here, and it isn't much," said Jupiter. "It revolved a lot around the fabled red gyarados, but since it has long since been captured by the Elite Four master Wataru, I don't see how anything they had going here will help us now, except the location of the base itself."

"_Hai_, Commander Jupiter," said Nobu with a mild yet quite polite nod. "Do you think we should continue on with picking the place up again, then?"

"Yes, I do," retorted Jupiter. "The quicker the better."

#

"Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning," grumbled a grunt, Ryota. "What do we look like janitors?"

"Shh!" hissed a companion, Kenichi. "Stop your wining. You want Commander Jupiter on our heads?"

"We're grunts. What do you expect?" agreed Ren.

Yoshi stared in silence around him, still feeling strongly that someone or something watched them from the gloom as they scrubbed with their sponges and flopped their mops out of buckets. Further on another pair of grunts examined books that had fallen before their bookshelf, and even the ones that still remained in their spots had to be examined for either keeps or to be tossed out. The echoes of their mutters as they read their titles and segments of texts sounded like the phantom whispers of something gone awry in themselves, and Yoshi could not help but shudder.

"Okay!" exclaimed Kenichi suddenly, looking up from his work. "What do you guys think? Time for a new room."

"Probably," muttered Ren.

"I'll just be glad when we leave," said Yoshi. "Or at least get all the electricity working properly again."

Even Kenichi had to agree with that.

Picking up all the cleaning materials and loading them onto their cart, they made their way to their new destination. A powerful lantern lit the way for them as the plunged into an especially dark and gloomy chamber.

"Miyako said things have gone missing on her when she puts them into crates," said Kenichi. "Whole crates have gone missing actually."

"Well, she's not the brightest thing in the world anyway," scoffed Ryota with a laugh.

"No, but — oh, come _on_!" exclaimed Yoshi irritated.

"_**Nani**_?" asked Ren looked up ahead.

"The cart's not going to fit through here," moaned Yoshi.

Ryota shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Don't suppose we could get away with saying we couldn't get in to clean this room later?"

"I wouldn't try it," said Kenichi with a sage cock of his head.

"Come on," said Ren. "Let's just get it over with."

Yoshi nodded readily.

"You go first," said Kenichi.

Yoshi gulped. "Why can't Ryota, he's the one who's not scared."

"I'm not scared," scoffed Ryota, "And neither are you. Stop being a baby. You're an embarrassment to the team."

"An embarrassment to the team!" snapped Yoshi.

"Yeah," agreed Ren.

The other three pushed Yoshi ahead.

"Face your fears and be a man!" exclaimed Ren.

Yoshi let out a pout, but no longer protested as he led the way toward the black doorway. The others grabbed the cleaning things as he held up the lantern. At least he had control over the light. He plunged forward, but had hardly gone two paces when his scuffing boot snagged something.

He gulped, but that was about all he managed before losing his balance. He stumbled to the floor and lost his grip on the lantern. It fell shattering as it collided with the ground. The others soon followed suit, tripping one after another over Yoshi's back. The lantern blinked and then went out leaving the fallen four to complete darkness.

"Idiot!" cried Kenichi.

"Get your foot out of my face, Yoshi!" snapped Ren.

"Hey that's _my_ foot!" growled Ryota. "Give it back!"

"_Ita_! Watch it!" croaked Yoshi from underneath the pile.

"I can't see a thing!" "Move over!" "No you move over!" "Shut up!" "No, you shut up!" "Maybe if I just—" "You shut up too!" "What the matter with you!" "Ug!" "Get that out of my nose!" "What?" "Oh! This is stupid!"

Then suddenly Kenichi hissed from the chaos, "Sh! Listen!"

Everyone froze right as they were in their human knot, but they all heard it. Something scuffled from within the blackness. Something alive lay beyond this door, or maybe not alive anymore … for only Ryota did not believe in ghosts out of this little group.

"What is it?" whispered Ren.

The sound seemed to draw closer and closer until: "Get outa my way!" "No, _you_!" "_Iya_!" "Freak!" "Let's get out of here!" "I'm trying to!" "Ack!" "It really _is_ haunted!" Somehow the grunts managed to break free, and though they crashed again into the cart, this time they sprang up fast after that and ran back to the room they had come from.

* * *

_NOTE: "Pluto" is the Japanese name of "Charon" (don't know why they had to change it) "Akagi" is the Japanese name of "Sirus" and Phaeton is loosely based off one of the comic book series' characters whose name escapes me right now._

_JAPANESE PHRASES:_

_**Hai:**__ yes _

_**Wakarimashita:**__ understood, I understand_

_**Nani:**__ What_

_**Ita:**__ ouch_


	2. P2

CHAPTER ONE:

-Seven Years Earlier (Continued)

"I want to make this brief," said Commander Akagi as he met Jupiter in the now cleaned and fresh lobby. The most unsightly thing to see now in the front of this base was the faded imprint the "R" logo left behind after its dismantling. "I don't like leaving Phaeton and Pluto alone at Headquarters for very long.

"Understandable," agreed Jupiter with a prompt nod, and turning she took her hands out from behind her back as she motioned to the base around her. "As you can see, Commander, everything is quite under control. Actually we were hoping you brought a Galaxy emblem with you."

Commander Akagi closed his eyes with slight irritation but replied in his usual tempered manner, "It will have to wait, Jupiter." He paused. "But from what you've told me there is not much here to waste our time on."

"Not much," admitted Jupiter. "Location more than anything is what's valuable here, but it is interesting to note that this was the base where Team Rocket created the red gyarados."

Akagi's brow perked with interest.

"There is actually some salvageable equipment that the technicians you brought will have a fun time with," said Jupiter with a smile.

Akagi nodded. "Good."

"So, I'll give you the grand tour now, if you wish," said Jupiter, "just as soon as—"

_CRASH!_

Some shouts and then a piercing scream.

"_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_!"

Both commanders had to stop and look down the hall with eyes wide as a door burst open at the opposite end of the corridor. Out from it, a female grunt rushed forward with a pair of wings to boost her; though aside from her panicked speed, something else looked odd about her. As she reached the lobby, it then became clear that her head to her waist was covered in a thick black goop.

"Idiots!" hissed Jupiter.

The grunt did not seem to notice Jupiter or even the leader of Team Galaxy himself as she continued to shriek unintelligible things with arms flailing above her head. She tore through the front door not bothering in the least to close it behind her as she sailed into the nearby wood and disappeared. Not entirely though. Her scream still echoed in the distance.

"Practicing battling with sludge attack down there?" asked Akagi stewed in rich sarcasm and mockery.

Jupiter flashed her eyes back to Akagi, but before she could answer, Nobu hurried up from the corridor, but unlike the grunt, the moment he saw Akagi, he stopped to bow with reverence to his master.

"Master Akagi!" said Nobu.

"What's going on?" said Akagi crossing his arms.

Jupiter, behind her superior rolled her eyes.

"It's just the grunts, sir," said Nobu with apologetic pleading. "They're spooked. They—"

"They think Team Rocket ghosts are haunting the place," muttered Jupiter.

"Yes, sir," said Nobu, "and though I doubt the place is truly haunted, I do believe now that something is living in the base."

"A pokémon?" asked Akagi.

"I don't know, sir," admitted Nobu, "but we've been looking for it for the past few days now with no result, except that Commander Jupiter and I did find the remains of some rice somewhere in a far corner."

"It could have been one of the grunts," Jupiter pointed out.

"They would not dare," Nobu protested. "They're scared out of their wits about going anywhere the light doesn't shine."

"So what was that that just ran past us?" asked Akagi, showing more amusement than anger.

"One of the grunts was just dumped with something like molasses, sir," said Nobu.

"_Hontou_?" said Akagi

"_Hai_!"

"Hmph, stupid grunts," Jupiter muttered. "But don't worry, Commander Akagi. We'll find out what's going on."

"Hmm, yes." Akagi gave Jupiter a thoughtful glance. "Come. Why don't you give me my tour." His professional manner returned.

Jupiter nodded.

So after showing the head commander about and trying her best to forget the antics of superstitious grunts for the time being, Jupiter took the liberty of calling for lunch. They had the kitchens working again, and though they had not brought any cooks with them, they found a grunt capable enough for the job.

Unlike most of the rest of the building, covered in shadow and quite metallic like the inside of a submarine or rocket fuel hull even with the electricity back on, the dining room brightened any dark mood. After the dining room had been cleaned up even the yellow walls turned from sickly and dreary to pleasant and warm. Broad windows opened to a sheltered wood blocking the view of any intruder outside but allowed enough light from the sun to trickle through. Some of the wooden tables had lost their gloss and were falling apart, but the best table had been moved to the best window view, and here the pair sat down to eat a simple meal.

They ate mostly in silence for a time; though occasionally Jupiter had some comment to make about the base. She said that it was quite a wonder that they might actually get the motherboard computer to work. The great, clunky, nineties screen in the lab which stretched from the floor up to the balcony above only needed some new light bulbs, but if Team Galaxy really wanted to take over this base they would probably update it with a new digital screen.

After a pause in which Jupiter drank from her glass and looked thoughtfully out the window Akagi closed his eyes in thought of his own. He did not hear anything that would have caused him to think that they were not alone. Creaks and groans and squeaks abounded in this old base, and anyone superstitious would shudder, but he did become alarmed when he felt a small touch. It was as faint as the wing of an insect brushed against his leg and as silent as the paws of a cat.

With an instinctive flash of muscle, Akagi's hand snapped to the touch, and he did not feel the least bit surprised to find that his grip latched onto a small wrist.

"Ack!" cried a squeak of a voice.

Jupiter's head snapped up in alarm, and her eyes grew wide as Akagi lifted the skinny, little arm above the table and found this limb to be attached to a scrawny neck and body topped by a thick mop of vibrant cerulean hair atop; beneath this mop a pair of wide blue eyes stared out in horror at his being caught like a cat in the jaws of a dog.

"Lemme go!" cried the little boy.

Akagi laughed. "Here's your ghost, Jupiter!"

"It's just some lousy kid!" cried Jupiter. "I might've known!"

"Too young to be a trainer though," Akagi mused, his hand still clasped upon the squirming boy's wrist. He smiled. "So this has been what's scaring the whole party. A slippery little kitty cat, aren't you? Are you alone, kid?"

Instead of answering the question the boy again just cried to be let go.

Akagi dropped him.

"Siddown," he commanded.

The boy stared in defiance for a moment or two, but seeing the futility of fighting, he consented and plopped down on the bench, whereas the two commanders sat in chairs at each end.

Jupiter leered at the child. "What are you going to do with the punk?"

Akagi ignored her.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

The boy gulped. "Tsubasa."

"Just … Tsubasa?" Akagi pressed.

The boy nodded.

"Are you the only one here?" asked Akagi again. "Or are there others?" He pushed some rice to the boy for him to eat.

The boy looked him wide-eyed with uncertainty, but after a nod from the man, the child took up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat.

"Just me, _Ojisan_," murmured the boy, head down into his food.

"I am High Commander Master Akagi of Team Galaxy," Akagi corrected, "and this, though you may know already, is Jupiter. She is the youngest and wiliest of the commanders."

Jupiter smiled with a proud strut of her head.

The boy looked to Jupiter and then to Akagi then lowered his head.

"_Hajimemashite_, Akagi-sama," he murmured softly. "Jupiter-sama."

Akagi grinned. "You see, Jupiter? He's alright. Aren't you Tsubasa? How old are you? Where are your parents or have you been living here?"

"At the orphanage, sir," said the boy.

"And honest too."

Jupiter did not look nearly as amused as she shoveled a whole poached egg into her mouth and glowered.

"But you hang out here a lot, I imagine, and without getting caught until now, quite impressive," said Akagi leaning forward over the table with hands folded in front of his chin, "And what are you, seven?"

"Eight!" exclaimed the boy in his defense.

"I could almost hire you right now," added Akagi with a sinister chuckle.

It was all she could do to keep from choking on her food as she lurched forward and glared at Akagi.

"_Nanda_?" she crackled as she just barely managed to swallow down the right tube.

The boy did not look all too thrilled either and scowled in confusion.

"Do you like the orphanage?" asked Akagi.

"No, Akagi-sama."

"'Commander Akagi' or "Master Akagi" will do."

"Commander Akagi."

"Commander …"Jupiter whispered.

Still Akagi ignored her.

"How would you like to come with me on my return to Headquarters?" he asked. "I promise you will have a far more fulfilled life with Team Galaxy than growing up rotting away at some orphanage."

"Sir?" asked the boy trembling a little.

"You've already proven you're better than most twenty-some year-old grunts," said Akagi. "You've even outsmarted Nobu and Jupiter here."

Simmering steam rose from Jupiter's head.

"Commander, no," pleaded Jupiter.

His resolve seemed to only grow stronger. "You could be at my side fighting the world with your skills honed and put to good use."

"What about Phaeton?" Jupiter suddenly asked.

Akagi threw a hand aside. "I'm in charge of Team Galaxy," he warned. "Not Phaeton, and not you. What I want to know is why female commanders won't know their place."

"This has nothing to do with gender!" gasped Jupiter.

"Enough!" snapped Akagi in return, and he glanced back at the boy as Jupiter recoiled into silence.

Tsubasa glanced at Jupiter warily and then turned back to the penetrating eyes of Akagi. Even at a young age he understood the conflict already starting about him, and he did not like it. Still, he could not help but ask, "You mean, you're gunna adopt me, Commander Akagi?"

"If you want to call it that," said the high commander with a careless shrug. "But you need a name."

"What about 'Tsubasa', sir?" asked the boy.

"A code name," grinned Akagi. "A new name for your new life. Hmm, I suppose we don't want to reuse X or Neptune, and you certainly can't be a Venus. Uranus? The color matches your hair. No. Saturn. I've always been partial to that planet."

"Saturn?" Jupiter demanded.

"Is there a problem, Commander Jupiter?" asked Akagi lightly.

Jupiter shook her head. "_Iya_, sir."

"Saturn …" Tsubasa repeated slowly to himself.

"Do you like it?" asked Akagi.

"_Arigatou gozaimasu_, Commander Akagi," said the boy with a nervous bow.

"Good. Come, Saturn. We'll get you a proper meal."

#

The first thing Tsubasa knew was the feeling of descending into darkness. The blue and gold trim did nothing to brighten the surroundings, and although they had been meant to be imposing and bold and perhaps even vibrant, all it succeeding in doing was to give off an oppressive aura lacking all life. Perhaps that was their goal, though. Team Galaxy wanted their base to be nothing less than a space station brought to earth until the day they would live among the stars themselves, for no doubt, they could have no bigger dream than to rule the planet from the stars like celestial bodies of space after which their commanders had been named. Saturn was too young to think all this at the time, of course, but he did feel the effect of being withdrawn from the world of sunlight, breeze, and the vivid green of trees and hills that he knew so well in the countryside of Johto. All life had been forgotten in this cold void, this, the Headquarters of Team Galaxy.

An emptiness and a fear gripped his heart as the light of day shut from him, and he was left with the ruler of the Galaxy. Looking up at Akagi now, Tsubasa felt a shudder run through him, and he wanted right then for nothing other than to be able to run away even back to the orphanage, but the life of Tsubasa had to clear the way for the birth of Saturn. There would be no backing out now.

"This," said Akagi as he led the child along the passages of the base, "is the entrance to the main hall. The auditorium and planetarium is beyond. Come, I'll show it to you."

The main hall was more of a large anteroom. Circular and empty, it seemed to serve no purpose but to look impressive, which it did with its high ceiling and gleaming floor; though many doors led out from here, reminiscent of a futuristic version of the room in which Alice had first found the tiny door that led to the garden of the Queen of Hearts.

The auditorium could be found through the largest door. A massive screen hung behind a high podium, and the stylized, metal bleachers formed a semicircle to view it. But judging by how these were placed, grunts were meant only to stand not sit as they listened to any massive scheme worthy of the size of this lecture hall. A balcony formed a square all the way around it, and it was up a flight of steps the pair went to this upper level.

Here another small flight of spiraled steps led up light house fashion to the planetarium. The roughly-cut metal clanked with each footstep and echoed in all directions. Then passing one last black turn they reached the top.

Certainly the prize chamber in the base, a great dome met the pair, bigger than both the auditorium and the main hall. Upon the flip of a switch (by order of the commander to a grunt) the planets glowed on in their holographic wonder. They spun in full dazzling colors which swirled inside the great orbs like crystal balls amidst the speckling of stars and the blotches and sprays of color and shapes the universe had to offer.

"I expect much from you, Saturn," said Akagi, his eyes on the planet whose name now belonged to the child. "I did not take you in just to have you taken care of, and I don't want you to think that even now. I don't believe in charity. In return for my friendship, I expect hard work and deep loyalty."

"_Hai_, Commander Akagi."

"As much as many would like to think, Team Galaxy is not a joke," said Akagi, "I own fighters, strong and resilient. One day I will show the world this. I am too big for them and will not be contained. You, Saturn, will help me."

Saturn stepped back and could not have been more moved if he had been invited into a spaceship to see the real universe itself. Overwhelmed, he lost himself in the planets and the glowing of the sun, which blinded him after having gotten used to the dimness of the rest of the base.

With a knowing glint in his eyes, Akagi smiled down at the boy, but the boy did not see this, his blue eyes wide upon the spectral orbits.

When they descended back into the dark corridors, Saturn felt as one waking from a dream, yet though he tried to listen, his groggy mind wandered when Akagi continued his tour.

"This leads to the grunt wing. Their dorms and showers are there. Near this is the dorms of the commanders, except for mine" (he did not elaborate on this) "Nobu has his room in between the two wings. On the far side of the grunt wing you'll find your way to the greenhouse. A bit primitive at the moment, but it will make us completely self sufficient in time, so with our own food, and already our own power supply nothing will stop me."

"_Hai_, sir," said Saturn softly.

"And this way will lead to the kitchens and dining hall. Nearby is the sickbay. Our medical staff is limited in number but vast in knowledge, and with Team Galaxy work you will be there yourself no doubt, no matter how good you are. As a reminder to everyone that this is the reality of things and not to take anything lightly, the training wing is also down past that way. Pokémon in storage as well as other equipment not used for now is down a flight of steps near the computer lab. And down these steps or this elevator shaft is the main laboratory. That is where Commander Pluto lives and works. You are not to go down there alone."

At this, Saturn did look up at the door with curiosity.

"Commander Phaeton," Akagi went on, "also often dwells down there in the secret chambers beyond the lab. You are never to talk to her under any circumstances whether down there or otherwise. She does have her dorm up here with the other commanders, and she will go on missions that suit her abilities, so you will see her before long. I won't lie to you, but I'll tell you that she is the most dangerous of all who work under me."

With a face full of bewilderment Saturn turned to face Akagi.

"You'll know her, when you see her, trust me," said Akagi. "And you probably won't _want_ to talk to her. In time, though, you will more than outrank her. I promise you. This is a secret, Saturn, between you and me, but you will outrank them all. Is that understood?"

Saturn gave a vigorous nod.

"Never lose your wits. Never. Nothing in this line of work is ever as it seems."

Then quite abruptly, Akagi straightened himself, and smiled almost kindly. Saturn was taken a little aback at such an expression on such a man, and he could only stare wide-eyed in return. That was when Akagi placed his hand on the child's shoulder.

"I know you won't disappoint me," he said.

"No, sir," Saturn promised. "I won't."

#

Saturn scratched at his head and winced.

The clothes he had understood. For daily duties he had been given a uniform of sorts to wear; though one that properly fit him would be given to him soon enough, Akagi promised him. However, now in a nightshirt, he still could not escape what had resulted from running into Jupiter on her brief return from the base in Johto that afternoon …

"_He can't go around in those rags!" she had pointed out, "He's been wearing those since we found him, and his hair! If he's going to stick around here, he might as well look his part, and since he's not a commander—"_

"_He's not a grunt either," pointed out the dark figure of Phaeton._

_Saturn did not see at the time how she was any more dangerous than Jupiter. After all Jupiter seemed to be the pushier and less loyal, but he obeyed Commander Akagi's command. Not a word did he speak to Phaeton, but then he did not say much to Jupiter either._

_Jupiter threw a hand aside._

"_Fine he won't have to dye it bright teal or whatever, but we still need to take care of that blue tangella on his head," snorted Jupiter, and turned to a grunt. "Hey you! Get some scissors, will you?"_

"Hai_, Commander Jupiter. Uhh … does it matter what kind?"_

"_The hair scissors."_

"_Right!" laughed the grunt. "I'll go do that, right now."_

_And she hurried away to obey the command._

"_Ug, I hate grunts," Jupiter muttered, and returned to the boy. "Now! We'll have your hair cut into something appropriate."_

_Saturn squinted. "Commander Jupiter. You mean like the grunts?" he asked timidly._

_Phaeton rolled her eyes, but continued to watch with interest crossing her arms in a manner that seemed to intend to form a barrier against her and involvement in the situation._

"_Of course, like the grunts," laughed Jupiter. "Silly, little boy. Except we won't dye it, and you won't have to wear those contacts they're always griping about."_

Saturn sighed, and blamed the hair spray that remained in his hair for most of the irritation. But he quickly forgot it all as he slipped on his clothes and out his room.

The first night had been terrible. After having rolled around in bed restless he had left his room to wonder the halls of his new home. Unfortunately he had he gotten himself lost, and most unfortunately he had started to feel very miserable and helpless and he had wanted more than anything to go back to the orphanage. Instead, he had run into a grunt going to the showers to get ready for bed. The moment he saw the boy, his first thought had been that Saturn was an intruder, but the moment he began to demand what he was doing here, the child grabbed him for dear life, tears streaming down his face and into the outer shirt of the grunt's uniform …

"_Waaah!" cried the grunt in surprise. "Get off! What's the matter with you!?"_

_Saturn did not stop, but clung to him harder._

"_I hate it here!" Saturn sobbed. "I wanna go back!"_

_Knowing then that this must be the boy that Akagi had brought back, the grunt did not dare attempt to pry the boy from his body, and he wondered what in the world he should do with him crying on him like that. It was not as if he knew anything about children, after all, nor was he expected to._

"_Go back! Are you crazy?" he asked with a nervous laugh. "When you can stay here at Team Galaxy and be meant for something?"_

_That did little to help._

"_Uh! C'mon! Stop crying! Please! Kid!" he gulped. "Stop." He looked around and spied another grunt coming from the opposite direction. "Hey, you! Help me here, will you?!"_

"_What is that?" cried the grunt in surprise._

"_Commander Akagi's boy he found in Johto," explained the first._

"_Well, what do you want _me_ to do?"_

"_I donno, doesn't anyone know where he's supposed to go?"_

_The second could not help but laugh at his coworker's predicament as he took it in now in full._

"Ne_! _Ne_! This isn't funny!" cried the first._

"_Go call Nobu-san about it then," said the second._

"_How can I?" demanded the first._

"_What? Can't you handle a little kid?"_

"_Shut up!"_

_By this time however, Saturn had recovered somewhat and removed himself from the grunt; though he still choked and sobbed inwardly. Mostly he had just become too embarrassed to handle this situation anymore, and after a moment or so he collapsed into a heap on the floor where he buried his face in his arms._

"_Poor kid," muttered the second._

"_Now see, this is why the rule normally is that no one can sign up for Team Galaxy until age sixteen," said the first with a sniff, but he did look down with pity on the child too. He sighed. "I'll take him to Nobu-san. He probably knows what to do with him."_

"Hai_, good idea," his companion agreed._

_The boy could not be urged to go no matter how hard the grunts tried to calm him, so in the end, the first grunt ended in simply picking him up and carrying him under his arm to Nobu …_

That had been a few weeks ago now, most fortunate for Saturn, for that was not a night Saturn wanted to remember. For the next few nights after spending his first night in Nobu's room, he slept in his own room exhausted from days of getting acquainted with Team Galaxy and the base. He had been ordered to follow around Nobu on inspections, and to be introduced to pokémon training with a few grunts, who had difficulty in explaining it properly. But he had been given his first pokémon, a zubat, and although he had protested that he was too young to be a trainer, all of Team Galaxy insisted that the outside rules of the Nation did not apply here. Physical training had already started with Jupiter, which Saturn could not say he was too fond of, but he was determined to prove himself in this regard and never to let Jupiter make a fool of him. He also spent time with Akagi, of course, and Akagi would explain how he ran Team Galaxy and some things about his expansion into Johto, the Orange Islands, and beyond. He happened to be in the process of making plans to take part of Kanto which the Rockets did not watch too carefully. So there happened to be the best police station in the region stationed in that area, but that would not daunt Akagi — Oh, no! The police did not scare him. The trainers did not scare him. Not even Team Rocket scared him. "A broken team. They had their chance," he often said. Saturn could only listen in silence and try to understand Akagi and remember what he told him. Any free time he spent wandering or watching grunts at their more menial work such as working in greenhouse, or taking their turn cleaning or doing kitchen or garbage duty (they had few people paid to do such things as Old Team Rocket had). Life seemed to gain a rhythm of sorts anyway, and Saturn found himself restless again from time to time when most of the lights went out.

That was when a few nights ago he had caught his first pokémon of his own. Commander Akagi had never said anything against such an activity. Perhaps it had not crossed his mind, as busy man as he happened to be. So Saturn, who for the first time had dared to wander outside by himself and embraced his long unseen sky and trees, and feel his long needed breeze, he found to his surprise an injured pokémon. He did not know what kind she was as he had lived his short life in Johto not way up in Sinnoh, but he had taken her in to the doctors to have her cured. They in turn had her taken to be helped in the lab, and at Saturn's request had returned her to him. Akagi had given him a pokéball to keep her in, and told him that she was a shinx and that he was to train her well.

Tonight, a few nights after that night, Saturn had taken to the corridors again. Although physically, the routine of this life was becoming near normal, his heart and mind still did not know what he had gotten himself into, and sometimes, though as the weeks passed these became fewer and fainter, he would think of the orphanage, of his friends there, of the kind but frankly rather busy people who ran it, but he hardly remembered his parents. In fact the little he did remember of them was fading away the longer he was here, yet the fact that he had once had a normal life haunted him at night when the thoughts of one's mind grew louder.

Thus, wandering out of his room, he had a mind to go to the grounds outside, but he never made it there. On his meandering way, he chanced upon the elevator shaft, and he saw that it was in use. Ducking into the shadows he watched with wide eyes in hopes and dread at the same time that he would see the mysterious Commander Pluto. He would have hated to see Phaeton coming out of that sliding door, but it turned out to be neither one. A trio of grunts was all that emerged, and they looked weary and irritable.

Saturn watched until they disappeared down the next corridor; then he crept out of hiding to look at the elevator, but as he turned to the side, he saw the open door-less entryway that led to the stairs.

Akagi's words echoed in his mind, yes, but he also remembered Akagi telling him to learn what he could and to be a strong asset to Team Galaxy. He had only seen the laboratory once with Akagi and not for very long, and the laboratory was expansive with many smaller rooms attached. Would it not be beneficial for Saturn to have a look and know every room in base? Surely, an old man like Pluto would be asleep in bed by this hour no matter how dangerous. That would make the only danger Phaeton, but he just was not to speak with her not to not see her.

He paused, then with a wily smile dove for the stairs. Tiptoe, down he went until he reached the blackness of the bottom step. The sound of air vents echoed in the height of its round, Saturn felt almost as if the base did float in space, and that below his feet at this bottom level of the base, infinite stars and planets and space forever. The feeling overwhelmed him a moment, but in some ways it added nicely to the drama of it all, and as he crept up to the laboratory doors he felt quite invigorated for his adventure.

The doors slid open at his presence, and slid behind him as he stepped with care inside and hoped the sound of the door would be quiet enough not to disturb anyone.

Lit by a dim lighting system along the floor for the night, everything held a mysterious aura that Saturn had not seen the first time he had visited when full lighting had bathed the room. Now blank computer screens on sleep mode, lab tables and a gurney or two with metal clasps, not to mention the sinister machinery that would make a non-team member shudder to see even in broad daylight, all looked nothing less than diabolical.

A little boy could not help but feel the thrill of fear and a little excitement run through his body. Except that now that he was here, Saturn did not know how to proceed. He walked along the computers and ducked down to see the coils of wires like squid limbs tied together in clumps. Then glancing up, he felt a hunger to know what lay beyond those doors to the rooms beyond. Finding one locked, he decided it better not to try the other, but as he turned around he forgot all about his fun when he beheld with a start something very alive and blinking back at him.

Saturn let out a gasp and shrunk back.

The man only glared harder over his round spectacles at the end of his nose. These spectacles reflected a rosy-orange in the queer lab-light. Arms hang loose at his sides in his stooped posture. A lab coat draped over his uniform similar to that of the other commanders, however odd it look on his short and stocky form. In fact it seemed that the coat may have been the only thing keeping him from looking completely idiotic in it. Except his face which held stiff and grim in comparison, his glare, which seemed to Saturn to be the glare one may give to a nyaasu scavenging in the garbage, but instead of merely chasing the creature away, that same "one" decided it better to pull out the shotgun or better yet the syringe dart.

Saturn gulped, and stepping back he found himself pressed up against one of the locked doors.

"So _you're_ Saturn?" said Commander Pluto.

The boy did not answer but stared in return.

"You're not much," the commander grumbled. "You're more like an Enceladus or an Iapetus or maybe even a Mimas, but Saturn seems to be a bit of a stretch for you."

Still Saturn only stared quite blank with confusion.

A slow smile grew on Pluto's face, and Saturn wished that he had just kept right on scowling, for his smile proved far worse than any scowl that man could make.

"Are you afraid?" he asked.

"No, sir," said Saturn, shaking his head.

"No, of course not, after all, what did Commander Akagi say?" Here he tapped his head in mock thought and looked upward before returning to the boy. "Oh, yes, that you were the brightest and gutsiest little boy that he had ever seen. And that is saying something coming from a man who usually doesn't care spit about any human being much less about their character. Still, one could question why a little boy as smart as yourself would be stupid enough to wander about alone after dark, especially down here."

"Commander Akagi said this was just the lab," said Saturn.

"Yes, he's been telling you many things, hasn't he?"

"Yes, sir."

In obvious habit, Pluto put his hands into his pockets as he continued, "Yes, this is 'just the lab.' But perhaps the high commander has not told you that the laboratory is the heart of every team."

Of course, he would say something like that, he was the scientist. Science just oozed out of him like puss from an old wound. Even his hair has been cut and groomed to look as if wires stretched behind his head from his temples.

"Don't you know what happens here 'just in the lab?'"

"Science, sir?" Saturn offered.

Pluto released a sinister chuckle. "N-yeas, and not just any science experiments, little boy. Things happen in the lab that would give you nightmares for the rest of your life. Things you couldn't even imagine. Do you know what you've really gotten yourself into, little boy, wandering about like you own the place, and then calling the heart of the team 'just the lab'."

"_G-g-gomen kuda_ …" Saturn started to say, but then cleared his throat. "I'm not afraid, sir. I understand."

"That we steal other people's pokémon? That we make little kids cry? That we want to rule the world?"

The pause proved longer than Saturn would have liked, but clearing his throat after a moment or two, he tried to answer, "I …"

"Doesn't that bother a tender, little soul like yours?" Pluto said with a deep frown. "Maybe not. Your probably still so innocent that you understand words but not their true meaning. What do you think those gurneys are for, or those wires overhanging those machines? Or those tools, hanging in that corner?"

"I work for Commander Akagi," said Saturn. "I don't work down here."

"But Commander Akagi is high commander and therefore is in charge of this too, and as this is the heart of the team …" He stopped abruptly as a sudden thought struck him, and with hands wrapped around his back he drew closer until he reached Saturn's side. Here, reaching out one hand he pointed to the child; though he seemed hesitant to actually touch Saturn as if he were somehow diseased and rather contagious. "Saturn … I suppose you don't know why you are here?"

"To work for Commander Akagi," said Saturn simply.

"He wants you to be his special agent," said Pluto the shrug. "He's raising you to be his secret weapon, and you will be the coldest-hearted creature that ever walked the earth. And I know another secret about Akagi. He likes his little projects. Jupiter was one of them, but he's forgotten her. I would say he may forget you, but I truly doubt that. Jupiter never got the attention you're getting, and I knew exactly what he has in store for you from the moment you arrived."

"_Nani_?" whispered Saturn, noticing for the first time how hard his heart beat within him as the man rambled on like a madman who at any moment could decide to bring out the scalpel, whatever that was.

"Jupiter is on Phaeton's side," said Pluto. "Our dear boss would not have that, so he had to find someone else. You're his little prince."

Saturn squinted.

"One day you will rule as master over Team Galaxy," the scientist went on.

The cynicism in his voice made Saturn tremble.

"Then _you_ will be in charge of the lab and make the orders to torture little pokémon, and you will have to guard it well, or else."

"Or else what?" breathed Saturn.

"Or else you will bring the downfall of Team Galaxy just as the fall of Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?"

"You've heard of it?"

"Yes, sir. They used to pick on people in the Johto Region, but they don't anymore," said the boy.

"And do you know why?"

"Because they were fighting with the other teams, and uh … they're leader got killed?" asked Saturn. He did not know anymore than that.

"Yes, sort of, but really it was the heart of Team Rocket that had already gone awry. Their last project was in the Orre Region. They pulsed pokémon with a juice that was originally invented by Team Shadow AKA Cipher to brainwash pokémon and to make them stronger through perpetual rage that would make them potentially unstoppable. Team Rocket perfected it, and their shadow pokémon were the darkest, most deranged pokémon that ever existed, but that was not enough for Team Rocket. The heart of the team was not satisfied. It thirsted for more. It lusted for it with an insatiable desire that led to their ultimate demise, for they got the permission from the head, Giovanni himself, to make the shadow agent. Human experimentation. One of the most heinous offences in the nation, and though they began testing on such trash as street scum and teams more spit than human, they eventually became a disease attacking their own members. As if the agents were really to blame. I know what the problem was. Maybe they did too. It's simply that the many trainers are so obsessed with their training that the only way for an agent to be a match for them is to have them train as much as the trainers they hope to face. What team has time for that? Even Team Rocket? But that's neither here nor there. The heart, I'm sure did not really believe that shadowizing agents would make them harder to defeat in battle. They wanted to simply see what would happen, and they wanted to strike fear into the Nation. They wanted to show them what they were capable of, and their agents would never complain or do anything except follow orders and look scary. So locking them away in the laboratory, sealing them in tubes, running shadow juice through their veins and hearts … that is the heart of a team. The driving force. Without the heart, the team would not run, the ambition of the heart never ends, and if not carefully controlled it will destroy it all."

"Not Team Galaxy …" whispered Saturn.

"Even Team Galaxy."

"But Commander Akagi wouldn't allow that," Saturn squeaked, forcing himself to keep from crying, for although the stuff spilling out of Pluto's mouth would have seemed like drivel to anyone else in Team Galaxy, Saturn's age and inexperience was against him in this. He felt helpless before this monstrous presence, and the full weight of the heart of the team pulled like an anvil looped around Saturn's own heart.

"Commander Akagi," said Pluto. "He's as coldhearted as all the other team leaders. He has to be in his line of work. To reach his goal he will do anything. He's an ambition, calculating, heartless fiend. He is a megalomaniac. He doesn't even care enough to change the uniforms of his grunts. He barely gives them enough pay to keep them on and doesn't care what they think. He wants to rule the galaxy as the star around which everything orbits. You're just another part of his plan. Just a silly, little pawn. He likes your spirit, but only to use it and conform it to his purpose. He doesn't love you." He smiled with satisfaction. "And I may be the furthest away hidden away in the darkness, but I complete it, and I don't care what they say about dwarf planets, the end of this Galaxy is Pluto. The drive of the sun ends with me. What hope does even Saturn have to keep everything in orbit once the red light of Akagi goes out?"

Lowering his head Saturn again tried to keep his courage, but tears welled in his eyes. He tried to blink them away, but he felt so utterly alone and lost, like a small satellite floating aimlessly through space without its orbit. The eternity of the universe swallowed him in the surreal glow of the lab. He could not move. He felt so cold and sick. The only option besides staring into the floor of the lab was to look back into the mocking eyes of Pluto, but when the boy lifted his head, he found that his fear of meeting those eyes again had been in vain.

Pluto had turned away and now seemed to have lost interest in him. Picking up a clipboard and ruminating through the pages it held, he seemed to have pretty much forgotten that Saturn was there. No doubt this was an indication that Pluto wanted Saturn to leave, but Saturn had no desire to stay. He would have left long ago. Now freed from the oppressive force of the scientist, Saturn lost no time in hurrying for the door as fast as he could.

The door shut behind him and Pluto glanced up from the clipboard and smiled with much confidence that he would not be seeing child ever again. Nor would anyone else in Team Galaxy …

#

Unfortunately for Pluto, however, Saturn did not run away. He had no idea where he could go, and besides that a part of him felt already strong loyalty to the man who had taken him in when no one else save a few orphanage workers thought of him as anything other than a nuisance and a burden. To disappear on Akagi would be to betray everything that Akagi had done for him. Any other fears or guilt could be ignored far better.

As he huddled in the darkness of his corner with hands wrapped around his knees, he sighed wondering when he could ever come out again. For a long while he had drifted in and out of troubled sleep amidst the mops and push crates that lodged there with him. Closing his eyes and curling up on the floor, he felt himself drifting off again when he felt a bright light in his face.

Saturn opened his eyes.

"Saturn?"

With the flashlight withdrawn, Saturn could see outside his hideaway under this staircase, and the face of Nobu met his.

Although he sat up again, Saturn lowered his head and looked away.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Nobu. He looked as though he must have felt awful to find Saturn here since the commander had put the child under his charge, and he took everything that the commander charged him with quite seriously.

"Nothing," Saturn murmured, but as tears fill his eyes again, he could not contain himself as he sobbed, "Nobu-san?"

"_Nani_! _Nani_!" cried Nobu. "What is it, are you sick?"

He crawled under the staircase now after the boy, and tried to coax him out.

"Come on, I'll talk to Commander Akagi," he said. "If you're not feeling well. You can stay in bed today, but the boss won't like you sitting under here, and you know it. Now come on. Please, Saturn. There's just a few hours before dawn. Get some sleep in bed."

Sniffling a little, and trying to choke down his tears, Saturn gave a little nod, and allowed Nobu to lead him out into the open corridor.

"Nobu-san …" whispered Saturn. "Will Commander Akagi be mad at me?"

"No," said Nobu. "You were just under the staircase."

Saturn shook his head. "I mean, I … He told me not to go down there, but I did anyway."

"Down where?"

"The lab."

Raising a brow, the man studied the boy, and shook his head. "That's why you're upset?"

Again Saturn shook his head.

Nobu groaned. "Come on," he said taking the boy by the hand. "I'll take you back to your room. You can calm down for a while, alright?"

"_Hai_," agreed Saturn.

In silence they walked for a time, but as they neared the sleeping quarters, Saturn asked, "Would Team Galaxy ever do experiments on people like in Team Rocket?"

Nobu stopped and squinted. "_Nanda_? Where did you hear that?" Then thinking a moment, he nodded. "Commander Pluto told you that."

_Oh, would Commander Akagi have a thing or two to say to Pluto when he found out that he had been tormenting Saturn, even if the boy had been told not to go down there_, thought Nobu.

"_Hai_."

With a roll of his eyes, Nobu kept leading the way to Saturn's room. "Don't listen to Pluto. That's probably why Commander Akagi did not want you down there. Commander Akagi needs his men. He wouldn't do anything like Team Rocket did. They were just too big for their own good. Commander Akagi, even if he wanted to, can't afford to sacrifice his men to science, especially you or me or his comman—Well, what am I saying? He wouldn't order anyone to be experimented on. What would be the point?" He stopped in front of the door. "Does that help?"

"I guess so," said Saturn.

"Okay!" said Nobu and pushed open the door. "So just get into bed and go to sleep."

"I'm tired to being alone," Saturn sobbed as the tears swelled up again in his eyes to see that miserable, military-styled room.

Nobu closed his eyes, and inhaling a moment, he then said with a last sigh. "Oh, fine, I'll stay with you a little while, but just a little while, understand?"

"_Hai_," said Saturn with a nod."You don't have to if you're gunna be—"

Nobu pushed him into the room and closed the door behind them. "Go on," he said, "get into bed."

Saturn threw off his boots and slipped under the covers.

"So you think you can relax, now? You're gunna be worth nothing in the morning, you know?"

Wide, cat eyes stared back at him, and Nobu in defeat sat on the foot of the bed. An awkward silence followed, but after a moment or two, an idea occurred to Nobu. It was a strange idea at least for him; though perhaps eerily normal outside a team base.

"Did your mother sing you to sleep?" asked Nobu.

"I don't remember my mother," came the quick reply.

"Oh. Well, do you like music?"

Saturn shrugged.

"Well, how 'bout _I_ sing to you?"

Those wide eyes just grew wider as the boy stared at Nobu in disbelief.

"No, seriously," said Nobu. "Just relax, and I'll soothe you with the little I remember from music lessons before I joined Team Galaxy."

Saturn blinked, still in disbelief and now quite alarmed as he realized that Nobu meant it. Those eyes looked as big and round as a pair of tennis balls.

Nobu ignored him, and telling the boy to lay back in bed, he began to sing, and it was indeed the strangest experience Saturn had ever had. No one could claim that Nobu's voice sounded soothing in the matter of perfect vocals, but he knew enough about singing not to sound teeth-setting. Besides the song he chose was a simple one, with a simple, though slightly haunting melody, and good singer or not, it was nothing Saturn would have expected from a military-like grunt captain in Team Galaxy.

It is possible that Nobu had anticipated and wanted this shocked reaction, for with Saturn occupied on such a strange thing as a singing grunt, he would forget his other troubles for a time, but as the song got going and Saturn relaxed, the boy felt rather comforted by the song. He let it take him to green hills far away and clear, starry nights, of quiet firelight, a warm hearth, and the smells of homey spices and burning wood. Before he knew it he had fast been lost to sleep …

* * *

_Pluto: Charon's name in Japanese_

_Akagi: Cyrus' name in Japanese_

_J**APANESE PHRASES:**_

_**Arigatou gozaimasu :** Thank you (formal)_

_**Gomen kudasai :** sorry (formal)_

_**Hai :** yes_

_**Hajimemashite :** Understood (formal)_

_**Hontou :** Really_

_**Iya :** No_

_**Nanda :** What the …_

_**Nani:** What_

_**Ne :** Hey_

_**Ojisan :** (formally addressing a male stranger)_


	3. Lost in Space

JMJ

CHAPTER ONE:

Lost in Space

A Team Rocket grunt bowed with the humility of a slave before the desk of Kisho. Turning from the window with a bit of a flippant toss of his head, Kisho looked down with disdain upon the grunt whom he regarded not much more than a slave anyway. Clearing his throat, he said, "What is it?"

"Word has just come through, sir," said the grunt lifting his head and standing with military stiffness before the desk, "that we are about to be infiltrated."

"By who?" demanded Kisho, eyes narrowing with interest. "Who knows about our operation?"

"Team Galaxy, sir," said the grunt.

"Pfft, Team Galaxy!" snorted Kisho. "For a minute I thought you were going to tell me that the police or some nosy kid—" His eyes flashed dangerously at the grunt. "How did they know?"

The grunt started in surprise but he soon admitted that he did not know.

"Who told you?" demanded Kisho.

"We just received word from Buson-san and Basho-san," replied the grunt. "They said that their new boss is with them. The kid, Commander Saturn."

#

"Except you were beat by that trainer whose like, what? Five years younger than you?" Mars laughed. "I bet that hurt your pride. Mr. 'I never lose'."

Only Mars could have gotten away with a comment like that. The closest thing Saturn had to a sister was Mars, the last commander appointed by the high commander Akagi. Only two years older and with a personality that clicked well so that they had been appointed to work together more than once by Akagi, never before had Saturn felt as though he had a peer. Though she had only shown up since this beginning of cold war with Team Rocket, she had become closer than any girl ever was to Saturn, and the only two people that could be said to be closer to Saturn than Mars were Nobu who had practically raised him and Commander Akagi himself — at least if he still lived …

Saturn smiled wryly in spite of everything. Mars only wanted to brighten the mood. She had no desire to pick a fight with him as Jupiter always did.

"Oh yeah!" sniffed Saturn leaning in toward her with arms wrapped behind his back. "And what about you? He beat you too, remember? Or was it such a blow that you blocked it from your mind?"

"He got lucky!" Mars said, and she crossed her arms with a huff.

"That kid beat everyone," pointed out Saturn.

"Well, I can't help it if he's an obsessed freak!" scoffed Mars.

"He even beat Commander Akagi," Saturn said a tad darkly.

"Like I said, he was obsessed," said Mars.

"Maybe," Saturn returned.

That trainer had not been the only one …

Together they marched down the hall with the pride of their station, and Saturn with more than usual. Even the grunts looked at Commander Saturn with a new interest. Now everything would be different.

"You have to take this seriously, Commander Mars," said Saturn even though he knew she would not.

Mars seemed the least affected by the recent turn of events. Though he would never admit it to her, the fact that she did not made him like her more than he had.

Coming to an abrupt halt, Mars threw her hands onto her hips. "And what don't I take seriously, High Commander?"

The title still sounded strange, especially from her. He doubted it would ever sound natural coming from her.

Saturn paused now as well and turned to face her. Standing straight and solemn and oblivious to how much this stance resembled the stance of Akagi, he said, "If what Commander Jupiter says is true and Team Rocket is using this new base to try to sneak into Sinnoh, I cannot stand by and allow them to take over what is rightfully ours. I wouldn't've thought them capable of something this outrageous, but bases speak for themselves. Besides being in Johto which has been ours since the end of the war, it just—"

"Eh, go have a milktank why don't you," said Mars. "Commander Jupiter's just making this more of a big deal than it probably is. Team Rocket doesn't want a war."

"That's what I thought, but then why were their agents sighted in Sinnoh?"

Mars did not have an answer for that as Commander Saturn started out again for the door.

"We're just going to have a look," he said, stiffness waning and he felt more himself again.

"_Soo da ne_!" exclaimed Mars. "Action! Intrigue! Haven't been doing much of that since the war anyway! I mean besides that stupid kid. That wasn't adventure. That was massacre, sir."

"Who said anything about Galaxy work being fun?" said Saturn.

"You did!" said Mars. "Don't let your new office make you a sour puss."

"I was joking."

"No you weren't."

Saturn rolled his eyes.

Maybe he wasn't joking, but responsibility happened to be a weighty thing, especially when that same responsibility had belonged to a man who had left his position prematurely.

Shaking his head, Saturn shooed the thoughts away. He would not allow himself to be dragged down by the unfortunate event with Akagi. The present should be all he needed to focus on. Mars probably dealt with it all in that manner, and so should he.

"The whole reason I joined this dumb gang was for fun!" exclaimed Mars.

"And you're not afraid to say it either," said Saturn as he reached the door first.

"No, not to you," said Mars. "You understand, don't you?"

"No," came the simple reply.

He pushed open the door, but he had not opened it far when Mars grabbed his wrist.

"Hey!" exclaimed Saturn turned sharply to her.

"Saturn," said Mars with full seriousness. "I'm sure he'll come back."

With an annoyed sigh, Saturn shook his head. "I doubt it, and so does everyone else."

"But, Saturn …"

"What?"

"Are you … are you okay?"

Another sigh escaped him, this time in defeat. He hated that he could not hide it.

"Yes, I'm okay," said Saturn.

After a moment's pause Saturn glared down strangely and Mars squinted in confusion.

"You can drop my hand now, Commander Mars."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mars. "Right! Hee!"

"Now come on!" said Saturn pulling his fist in front of him with determination. "Let's get to the bottom of this!"

"_Hai_!" exclaimed Mars with a salute.

Saturn smiled, and they pushed out the door.

"Hey, grunt!" called the new high commander as they emerged out on the grounds.

"_Hai_, Commander Saturn!"

"Everything's ready?"

"_Hai_, sir, everything's ready … I think."

Saturn shook his head.

Grunts.

The roaring buzz of helicopter wings swept out of meet them before the helicopter itself could be seen. Behind a wall it stood on its launch pad ready for the commander and his partner. On its silver side gleamed the bold, golden logo of Team Galaxy. It looked proud, vigorous, and ambitious. Saturn would not let that logo take on the feel of that red "R" of Team Rocket. It rested with him now, its future. It was up to him that no team would come to the ruins of a Galactic base and find a miserable, broken insignia like the one Jupiter would boast she had seen when Saturn had been found. But as he approached the helicopter he noticed that the logo just did not have the same life that it once held when Akagi had been the proud ruler Saturn had grown up knowing.

#

_A Rocket agent bowed before the figure seated in the darkness of the chamber. His bow was the bow of centuries' old ninja, for so outsiders often claimed Team Rocket to have become. He lifted his head and looked into the dark empty space where he knew the head of his boss Athena would be._

"_Is he here?"_

"Hai_, Athena-san," said the agent, and he smiled. "And it is a triumph to have him."_

"_No," said Athena. "It's already been settled. We don't need war right now. We need numbers. We need strength. Not petty pokémon battles with Team Galaxy. Not prisoners who will have people coming at us with vengeance to get them back. If Akagi's come to speak terms of peace let him, and though his motives may be less than honest …"_

"Wakarimashita_."_

_He motioned behind him and two grunts opened the doors for Akagi and his cohorts to enter._

_Although Athena had long since thrown any remains of what she termed Old Team Rocket and to compare her Team Rocket with the old would be one of the greatest insults to the present team, Athena bore a striking resemblance to a picture Saturn had seen of Madam Boss among Phaeton's old spy mission items. Athena's closed red duster, although longer than Madam Boss' business suit jacket seemed to be cut on the upper body almost identically, save that Athena had a tad thicker build than the serpentine thin figure of Madam Boss. Her chair too looked no more than an oversized office chair very reminiscent of that now dead woman's picture. One leg crossed over the other revealing long red boots that matched her duster and black leggings. Even the atmosphere of this dark, empty chamber, although a tad more traditional with its lanterns lighting the high walls (even if they were electric, Saturn noted) looked like the backdrop of that old photo. The red R behind her, which although made to look like rough calligraphy strokes glowed behind her not much different from old Team Rocket's insignia. It seemed that in all but appearance Athena deep down longed for old Team Rocket to return herself despite all her efforts to destroy its memory._

_Saturn could not help but smile._

"_This is embarrassing," whispered Jupiter, leaning up toward their own proud leader._

"_Shut it," Akagi whispered back without looking behind him or even reacting otherwise._

_Saturn had to admit that Akagi's decision for calling for peace when Team Galaxy had had the upper hand proved a bit baffling. After all with Phaeton's newly hired grunts and Akagi's new commander Mars, and Saturn of course, they could have had Team Rocket surrendering before the year reached its end. But be that as it may, here they stood, all the commanders of Team Galaxy save Pluto still sulking in the bowels of headquarters, at the mercy of Athena._

_However, though Jupiter had lost her nerve as she often did with Akagi's decisions, Saturn never lost faith in the high commander. Akagi was master. He had a plan. Oh, Saturn knew he had a plan. Regardless of mere past experience with his past decisions, Saturn knew Akagi close enough to decipher that cold, grim frown, that behind it lay the greatest sneer one could hope to see. For now Team Galaxy only had to wait. The high commander never had been one to let others in on his schemes until at the utmost need._

_At the foot of Athena's throne, Akagi bowed. Mars and Saturn on either side of him bowed with the humblest respect after him, and Phaeton did likewise in her cold, reptilian silence. Jupiter, only, hesitated. It may have been brief, but Athena noticed. A smile tugged at the side of her lip, though short-lived and reserved._

_The leader of Team Rocket then turned full attention to Akagi, whom she did not trust, but she trusted her team. Saturn felt all eyes, even hidden, upon them. Any strange movement and the commanders of Team Galaxy would be out like a light. As talented as they were, they were only five, and who knew what secret agents Athena had ready to leap in for the kill with the element of surprise and the home advantage._

"_Ah, Akagi-san," said Athena as if meeting a guest at a cordial dinner party of some sort. "It is a pleasure to see you again."_

"_Yes, I know it is," retorted Akagi. "I didn't come for tea and cookies, Athena. I'm here to do business."_

"Iya, iya_, of course not," said Athena with a smile as she leaned into the light to reveal her full face of pleasure she had just spoken of. Her age showed despite her smooth makeup. Her rich auburn hair showed signs of grey at the roots and crows' feet could be seen sneaking out from the corners of her dark, painted eyes. Also a cold, stale aura emanated from her that would have shown age no matter what she looked like otherwise, an age that showed that she had been doing this for far too long and needed to retire before she went mad, or so Saturn mockingly thought as he took in her face. "We're talking over your terms of peace. I suppose you want a treaty of some sort? I brought paper. Ink. I'm ready."_

_So they discussed, the two leaders. The rest of the room remained as silent as the grave but as alive as a den of lions. The cronies of Akagi and the cronies of Athena watched each other with all caution and hatred as their leaders decided their fate._

_Saturn watched the Rocketers only out of the corner of his eyes. Most attention he honored upon Akagi and Athena. He missed not a word they discussed even when briefly distracted by a whispered comment about one of Akagi's commanders being a mere twelve-year-old boy._

_At this Saturn could not help his grin._

_During the war, Saturn had battled like a trainer some Rocketers had admitted, and he fought and sneaked, said some from Team Galaxy, like a top agent from old Team Rocket like Domino or Lambda or even Galaxy's own Commander X (before Saturn's time) who had been nicknamed "the Nova" for his dynamic force and wild cunning. Pride swelled in Saturn, the youngest commander ever, and he had never lost yet! The jealous ones called him _Akagi no Neko_, but this only made Saturn's pride pulse all the harder in his quiet ominous catlike manner. In fact to spite them he had taken the liberty of growing out his hair enough to form two great blue ears or horns on the sides of his head, which would become his signature with which all identified him._

_But Saturn did his best to subvert the pride now as he listened to his master's plans for peace in this war from which Saturn emerged. In some ways Saturn had difficulty picturing Team Galaxy working as they had before the war, chasing trainers, stealing pokémon, and lab work, but he was eager for a change. Besides he understood full well that neither Team Rocket nor Team Galaxy wished blood to be shed. So far there had been none, though there did happen to be a debate still about a certain Rocket named Yamato and the bridge she fell, jumped, or was pushed from and got seriously injured._

But she jumped in_, thought Saturn. Even if those had been Phaeton's grunts hired specifically for the war, they would have obeyed the master word not to kill anyone, and Rocketers were taught to kill themselves rather than submit to the enemy in true ninja fashion._

_When the discussion had ended, the land had been divvied up in this way after much arguments and a few vile comments: Team Rocket owned all of Kanto, half of the Orange Islands and roughly half of Johto; Team Galaxy owned Sinnoh, the other half of the Orange Islands, and there had been some griping about whether their half of Johto was equal. Not the simplest Galactic grunt was to dare enter Kanto and no Rocket was to cross over the border of Sinnoh. The other territories could be delved in by either team only after telling the other team about it. Then Athena and Akagi signed the papers and told their highest officers to do the same. Again the youngest was Saturn, and the only one who hesitated was Jupiter who eyed Athena dangerously before putting blood-red ink to paper. The document then had been copied in a high tech copier so that each had one. The original would be in the hands of Galaxy on Athena's insistence._

_Team Galaxy was then ordered to clear out._

"_Sir?" asked Jupiter with a puckered brow once they were outside and nearing their air carrier. "You have a plan, don't you?"_

"_There's no trick," said Akagi. "There will be no blood spilled on either side. I want no more war. You never struck me as a war mongerer, Jupiter."_

_Jupiter smiled. "And you never struck me as a peacemaker afraid of a little grunt blood, sir."_

"_Your place, Jupiter," said Phaeton with a calm and droning darkness._

"_Well," said Mars with a shrug as Nobu opened the door for the five to enter the craft. "It's not like it's not a fair treaty. It could have been a lot worse in my opinion."_

"_No one asked for it," said Akagi._

"Hai_, Commander Akagi!" said Mars; her salute could not be said to be one hundred percent serious._

_But Akagi himself at the moment did not seem to take his comment seriously. A wide grin spread out across his face and a flicker of some cold fire lit up in his icicle-blue eyes. A look downright wolfish took over him, and as the door sealed shut behind them he let out a slight chuckle._

"_You have a plan, don't you, master," said Saturn._

"_Fools," said Akagi. "They'll be sorry they underestimate me and take me for a simpering coward and my Galaxy as a joke."_

_Phaeton's eyes narrowed as the other three younger commanders' eyes widened with eager anticipation._

"_As if I would make a treaty for peace without knowing we could come back," said Akagi. "And you're right, Commander Jupiter, I fear no blood, but we have no time to bother with war and land. At this point I don't even care if they keep the treaty with us."_

"_Sir!" Jupiter gasped._

_Again Akagi laughed. "I have something in motion already that will one day have those little Rockets swallowed by the vast vacuums of my Galaxy, and they'll find trouble flying away in their little jet trails. Athena will beg for mercy then, and I won't give it to her."_

_The commanders looked at each other in silence._

"_Can you tell us it now, sir?" asked Jupiter._

"_Patience," said Akagi._

_Mars scratched her head. "I really can't picture that old hag begging anyone for mercy," she said._

"_You will see."_

"_What will we do, Commander?" asked Saturn._

"_Wait and I will give the orders."_

#

The helicopter door slammed shut behind Saturn, and he took his seat beside Mars.

"Get this thing moving," he ordered the pilot.

"_Hai_, Commander!"

Saturn looked out his window and up into the blue sky above. A grim smile appeared on his face reflecting back against the glass.

* * *

JAPANESE PHRASES:

_Soo da ne_:Right (with "ne" for emphasis)

_Hai_: yes

_Wakarimashita_: Understood (formal)

_Iya_: no

_Akagi no Neko_: Akagi's cat


	4. Team Spirit

CHAPTER THREE:

Team Spirit

His party had run out. The only one left was the octillery that he rarely used, and he was outnumbered. Mars was on the other side of the base somewhere. This had only supposed to have been a sneak in and sneak out type of mission, but he had been met at the doors with open arms.

The Team Rocket grunts surrounded him, waiting to see what he would do next now, or maybe they just waited to watch him squirm before they moved in for the kill. How had they known he and Mars were coming unless something had clued them in? They had moved in so fast how could Team Rocket have prepared for them? Someone on the inside had given them away.

With rage building in his mind as he thought of ordering octillery to attack, he thought he knew exactly who that someone was.

He threw out his hand to give the command, the Team Rocket agents and grunts readied to attack in return with their numerous pokémon among them was old, long time agent Basho, a smooth and wily fox. If it had been merely Basho he faced, this cat would have outwitted and far beaten the fox, Saturn felt more than confident, but with an unfair fight of Saturn against a half of the base, he had no chance.

Pride broke, and common sense won over. Saturn's hand faltered. It fell to his side and he bowed his head. It would be suicide to continue.

"Octillery, return!" he called calmly, holding out his pokéball.

In a flash of electric light, the octillery drew back and was sealed in his ball, which Saturn then pocketed before turning to his enemies. He stood before them without a trace of fear and as a staunch and straight as a military statue.

"I surrender," he said in the calmest voice to show that it was not weakness or cowardliness that had made him stop battling, but wisdom in a fruitless pursuit.

"A wise decision," said Kisho with a wide grin.

Basho said nothing but returned Saturn's unshaken look with a calm leer of his own.

"So it seems," replied Saturn, and without the least bit of resistance except to keep his feet and stance, he allowed the grunts to grab him. His eyes never faltered from Kisho's. The death glare he gave him would be more than enough to tell him how much he did not fear him and that he would be first on his list when he escaped. With satisfaction, Saturn saw that Kisho squirmed if only a little before he ordered his grunts to lock Saturn away.

#

Food slid under the door through a slot that a hand would barely be able to fit through. Some of the slop spilled out onto the floor.

Someone on the outside of the door muttered about Team Galaxy getting what it deserved in allowing a kid to be the leader. A rude laugh followed that made Saturn's blood boil. Behind clenched teeth he held back a pointless retort or empty threat that he longed to give.

Relaxing into a slump as he crossed his arms over his knees, he stared out across his cell with a most childish pout. No one could see it, but he still felt it, and that somehow just made the pout grow all the more protruded instead of decreasing it in his disgust at allowing himself to be caught like this. With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, he closed his eyes, wondering how long it would be before Kisho contacted Athena, and she decided what to do with him.

First Akagi and then Saturn. The high commanders were falling fast.

And there was no stopping his mind now that it went down this path.

His stomach growled, but he did not hear it. He did not feel hungry as he thought back to Akagi.

To say that he loved Akagi would have made Saturn sick. Love had never been the word to use when describing a relationship between anyone and Akagi, but without Akagi, Saturn felt empty. To say that Akagi was the closest thing he had ever had to a father would have made Saturn cringe, but he felt the loss of his support, such as it had been, and it was, he felt, the greatest loss he had ever known, for he did not remember the loss of his parents.

For a man who never claimed to care for anyone, Akagi somehow possessed a charisma that drew many to care for him and his needs, to follow blindly his obvious self-centered commands, and to never question his motives that were only to better himself not the team. He had heard it from his own lips that he cared nothing for the emotional heart of man. Perhaps his lack of pretence of caring for fidelity and camaraderie that other team leaders often had was what made so many that would dare to join a team come to him instead of any other, especially after the bright lights of Team Rocket had grown dim. A straight forward monster was better than hiding in a sickening fantasy, but the members of Team Galaxy had created their own fantasy …

"_Team spirit," Akagi scoffed when a grunt had dared to ask him, (not that Akagi cared. He rarely rebuked for a subordinate's not keeping their position). He brushed past the grunt and pulled Saturn aside. "Do you know about team spirit, Saturn?"_

"_Sir?" asked the boy not much older than ten. "Don't we have Team Spirit? We care about our team. Everything is for the better of the team. Anything not helpful for the team we get rid of. Everything helpful to the team we keep and savor. We work together. Isn't that Team Spirit?"_

_Akagi smiled. "Let the grunts think what they will. Team Spirit's all good and well for them, but for anyone in the higher positions it must be known that Team Spirit is what drove the agents of Team Rocket to the ground. Their loyalty to the team as an entity is what drove them to kill in war, their pride in the team is what made them show off and strive to make their team noticed. Team Spirit is what made Team Aqua and Team Magma come to an eternal stalemate. They will never get any higher or smaller, because they would rather fight with each other than truly grow. Team spirit, however, when used well by the leaders …"_

_Blink. Blink._

_The wide eyes of Saturn made Akagi laugh, and he ruffled his hair. "Go train. You got work to do."_

"Hai_!"_

In some ways Saturn almost hated Akagi, but he ached for him now just the same …

The plan had started out simple enough. Saturn felt certain that it had started with Pluto. Anything with pokémon manipulation usually did. They would link trainer and pokémon with a computer chip clipped behind the master's ear. A command would run direct from master to creature without a word having to be spoken, and pokémon would be influenced to obey, thus making battling quicker and quieter on the side of Team Galaxy. Pokémon would attack before any enemy's command no matter how trained they thought themselves. In basic pokémon battling terminology, Team Galaxy would forever have the upper hand attack speed.

Then the explosion. Akagi would not tell Saturn his sudden change of plans. Anger filled Saturn, for he felt that Akagi somehow blamed him for what had happened in the laboratory; though, it had been Pluto not Saturn who had been with him at the time.

Of course, there was the trainer that had beaten Saturn. Perhaps Akagi blamed him for that, Saturn who had supposed to have been unbeatable …

"A joke!" muttered Saturn, who had been disillusioned now to such nonsense as that.

The trainer seemed to know more about Akagi's plot than Saturn had.

What had he done to offend? The trainer had beaten every including Akagi himself in battle, not that they had been able to finish the pokémon mind-controlling scheme.

But Akagi after the explosion had not been himself.

Phantom pokémon had been called to be found. Searching mountains, oceans, caves for these to serve a purpose that Akagi would tell no one. Now, Akagi had always been one to keep secrets, but what maddened Saturn and everyone else, was that he seemed to hold Pluto in his best confidence, the one that everyone up until that point scoffed as a mere trapping to the team to have a scientist. Akagi himself often called him, "a foolish old coot." But what had caused this sudden change towards him?

The girls bickered and complained about it constantly around Saturn, but Saturn himself had kept silent and dutiful as he always did.

Then as if all this had not been bad enough with the running all over the Nation without true explanation, the secret of Pluto, and Akagi doing nothing to stop the infiltration of trainers and leaving the lower commanders to deal with pressing police, everything came together. At this hour in which Team Galaxy needed their leader most, he disappeared. Not even Pluto seemed to know what had become of him.

Saturn guessed enough, however. He had abandoned them. Nothing could be simpler. He saw his plan would not work and he let his team hurt for it while he took refuge somewhere. Maybe he would return. Maybe he would not, but whatever he had done, whatever he had planned to do, had not been good. As he had told the trainer who had beaten him, "Extremism is never the solution."

All had come crashing down without the master planner to hold it up. Many grunts had been arrested, and the commanders just barely managed to escape before they made Saturn leader as Akagi had commanded.

Now this is where Saturn had ended up, in the cell of a detention area of a Team Rocket base in Johto. Regardless of the Rockets breaking a treaty no one had really expected them to keep, it surprised Saturn that they had done this, only because in setting up a base so close to Sinnoh they were asking for trouble.

They must fear that Team Galaxy would start a war against them again, but perhaps they thought that without Akagi Team Galaxy would deteriorate. Perhaps they were right. After all, Saturn was not even sure his team would come for him. Not everyone had been thrilled with Akagi's decision in making Saturn his second.

"Psst, Saturn."

Immediately Saturn lifted his head in the direction of the sound. A vent above him seemed to be its source, and standing up he turned around and leaned his head back to try to get a better look as he squinted through that grate.

"It's me, Mars."

"I know," murmured Saturn. "What took you so long? Where've you been?"

He could not help but feel uncomfortable about Mars having seen him sitting miserably on the floor as he had just then like a five year old on a "time out".

"Pfft, well your welcome for coming back to get you at all," sniffed Mars as she turned to her zubat, which she had apparently released previous to her entrance into the air vents. "Zubat, use acid."

The zubat obeyed, and spitting out a hot goop, the bars of the grating melted away in purplish steam. Once it had cleared, Mars reached out a hand into the cell.

"C'mon."

Even before she spoke, however, Saturn had grabbed her hand. With some effort from her small frame, she yanked Saturn upward, and Saturn once, he had a grip on the vent itself, crawled in mostly on his own easy effort.

"And as for where I've been. I've been hiding out in the trees for hours," said Mars. "They had their scouts hunting the grounds forever. It's not like I wanted to leave you waiting. One almost saw me there. I had Lopunny knock him out, but still!"

"Quite, Commander Mars," said Saturn in a low hush. "Keep your voice down. We're not out of here yet."

"Right, right," agreed Mars. "C'mon, I'll show you the way out." No later than she had turned however when she returned to face Saturn again. "Oh. These are yours, by the way."

She reached into a little pouch she had and handed Saturn back his pokéballs.

Golbat. Toxicroak. Octillery. Cranidos. Brunzar Shinx. Good they were all there.

Now to get out of here. Hopefully they would not run into anyone that could not be easily overpowered. His pokémon were still weak from that massacre, and Mars' no doubt fared little better save perhaps her zubat, but a lot of good a little zubat would do against an army of Team Rocket soldiers.

Zubat and Mars led the way to the other side of the base where Mars had climbed in to get to Saturn. They dropped to the ground in a weedy, grassy spot. Crickets bounded away from them as the pair landed on the ground. Mars then returned her zubat.

No one had yet discovered the hole Mars had made in the vent. Crickets further off on each side chirped and nothing more.

Saturn nodded with approval and smiled at Mars.

A wall of woods stood a few yards away, and they would make it!

They bolted across the grassy lot, darted around a power box of some sort and then leapt for the woods, but not fast enough.

"The prisoner!" someone shouted from behind.

Mars rolled her eyes and Saturn ground his teeth.

"Well, don't let them get away!" shouted another voice.

A burst of electricity sounded as a pokéball was thrown onto the ground.

"Venonat!"

And apparently the one ordering the other to fight released a pokémon of his own for the next moment another ball flashed behind them and the ordering voice growled, "Go, Nidorino!"

"Just keep running!" gasped Mars.

_No good. _

Saturn could already picture Venonat's sleep powder, Nidorino's hyper beam or horn attack. They had to get out of here and fast. Besides that a sharp slope dropped up ahead. They would be sitting ducks scrambling down that way, and their black and white clothes and their bright colored hair would make them targets easy to sight.

Saturn grabbed a pokéball. Golbat may be too weak to battle but maybe he would be strong enough for flight at least.

Golbat let out shriek as he leapt into the air.

Throwing a glance at Mars he and she both thought the same thing. Even on normal circumstances with Golbat at full health this may not work. They both came to a halt at the edge of the slope not quite a cliff, and Golbat above Saturn's head hovered ready for a command.

Golbat had grown big for his species. Sometimes pokémon did, and no one quite knew the reason, but aside from making him a better dive bomber it also made Golbat good to use in quick escapes.

"Down there!" Saturn pointed down as he yelled up to his pokémon.

Now Golbat understood as well, for they had done this together many times during the war; though Saturn had been a bit smaller then. As Golbat swooped for the slope Saturn leapt up into the air and ordered Mars to do the same. He snatched one leg and she the other.

"Nidorino, ice beam!"

"Great!" shouted Mars.

The golbat began to sink, but it did happen to be fast enough to avoid the beam of ice coming their way. Like a sharp gust of winter whipped past their heads, Saturn and Mars felt the chill through their hair and down their necks, but they had made it just in time. But would Golbat hold out? It seemed the pokémon may not have been able to fly with two passengers, but he could glide downwards as he descended into the valley.

"They're gunna try to get us again," said Mars.

"I know."

He followed Mars' glance behind them, and sure enough the Team Rocket agents stood at the brink of the slop with their pokémon. They looked more than ready to fire again.

The breeze proved to be on their side however, for Golbat swept downward at a graceful speed despite all, and they headed straight for a thicket.

New attacks were ordered from above, but at that moment Mars and Saturn leapt from Golbat's legs. They tumbled into the branches and leaves below, but had missed another ice beam and something else that Venonat had sent out. Golbat in jerking back from the released passengers missed being hit by mere chance.

"Golbat return!" shouted Saturn scrambling to his feet with his pokéball.

Rubbing her head, Mars moaned behind him. Quickly pocketing his pokémon, Saturn snatched Mars by the wrist and continued to run.

"Ack!" cried Mars, but otherwise made no complaint.

They had not gotten far however when Saturn bolted to a halt. Je heard the whirring of helicopter blades. Sure enough the yellow insignia of Team Galaxy met them as the helicopter came into view.

"Oh, yeah!" laughed Mars through gasping breaths for air. "I forgot to say. I had time to cavort with the pilot before going to get you!"

The ladder lowered before them, and Saturn without a word leapt onto it followed soon after by Mars.

#

"—Reckless conduct and immature decision making," Jupiter finished with hands wrapped around her back as she paced back and forth before the table. "And I ask you, is this what we get from our new boss? After years of hard work we are to be ruined by the antics of a child? I think not."

Saturn glowered but said not a word. He sat as still and silent as he often did as he sat in the high commander's chair before the rest of the commanders seated at the table. Mars seemed to be the only one sympathetic with his cause. Pluto and Phaeton proved sympathetic for nobody as usual, but one might have expected a little more support from Nobu who sat grim and silent. Then there sat a few of Pluto's fellow scientists and some of Phaeton's personal grunts who would naturally take their side when they gave it, and Saturn knew whose side they would be on.

"And that's not the half of it!" Jupiter went on.

"What do you mean?" snapped Mars. "We were there. We escaped. It's like nothing happened. We didn't lose a single pokémon. We didn't even lose the helicopter. I'd say we did pretty well. I'd like to see you do better."

Jupiter sneered. "Oh, yeah, well let's just see what Phaeton has to say," she said leaning rudely in Mars' direction. "Then we'll see what you think of your little boyfriend."

A fire may as well have passed over Mars' face for it flushed quite red, red enough to match the planet after which she named herself.

"Boyfrie—He's no—"

"Phaeton," said Jupiter turning to Phaeton. "Would you care to explain? It was you who figured it out after all."

Phaeton?

Saturn made no outward movement save a flicker in his eyes as she glanced to her.

Phaeton, whose eyes had been on the table for some time in deep contemplation, now lifted her vision to Saturn alone. Saturn glared back and something in that reptilian stare told Saturn what happened before she spoke. Whatever Phaeton would say would end his leadership once and for all. Whatever she had told Jupiter, Jupiter would take full advantage of, and Phaeton had no loyalty to Saturn. It seemed debatable whether she had had any loyalty to Akagi himself. She, Pluto and Akagi had been together in this since the beginning, and Saturn had always known that they had had arguments over superiority. It did not take a genius to figure out such would be the case in such an organization nor that for Akagi to have given leadership over to Saturn would not have made the other two very pleased.

"Yes," said Phaeton rising with the solemnity and ease of a ghost, her spider fingertips just brushing the table top as she leaned forward and nodded to the smug Jupiter; then her eyes returned to Saturn as she straightened to full height.

She stroked the head of Persian at her side, her pet and prize which she had claimed during her undercover missions in old Team Rocket when Team Galaxy was young and fresh. She was a treacherous one, Phaeton. She had become one of Giovanni's favorite weapons. Rumor had it that the persian had been a gift from Team Rocket's boss himself and that she had been bred from Giovanni's infamous pet.

Saturn glanced down at the persian and then returned to Phaeton to await her words.

"Someone leaked information to Team Rocket otherwise they would not have known the location of our mecha base near Canalave City."

"What happened?" demanded Saturn.

"It blew up," said Jupiter with toss of her head. "And who do you think gave the location?"

Saturn had a guess. He leered at Phaeton.

"Commander Saturn did!" snapped Jupiter.

Nobu gasped, the lower ranked in the company also looked shocked. The eyes of Mars widened with concern as she looked to Saturn for answers.

"I didn't know anything about this," said Saturn with dangerous precaution. "No one told me that the mecha base blew up. And I didn't tell them _anything_."

"Oh, _hontou_, _hontou_!" said Jupiter crossing her arms and turning away with huff. "And why should we believe you? You're a weak commander, Saturn. Without Akagi holding your hand you're nothing, and now you've compromised the team, you coward. They wouldn't have killed you. No one wants a war. Some team spirit you have! I'm ashamed of you!"

"I—" He threw a look to Nobu, but he still offered no support; Saturn cleared his throat and gave the bold retort, "I would never compromise the team."

"Leadership is lacking," sighed Phaeton. "Akagi is worse than dead. He's abandoned us; therefore his words are not worth loyalty. We have no reason to keep Commander Saturn as our leader in his stead if he does not prove worthy of the position."

"_Nani_!" cried Mars, "But I think he makes a great leader."

"No one asked your opinion, Mars," muttered Jupiter.

Rage built quite visually over Mars' body, but before she could say anything in reply, she felt a tap on her boot. Glancing to her side she came faced with Saturn's leer telling her to keep herself collected. Relenting, Mars closed her eyes and swallowed her shuddering anger.

"_Jaa_ …" said Pluto, folding his hands in front of him and glancing over his spectacles in a professional manner; his direction seemed to have come from Mars before he turned to the standing phantom commander. "Commander Phaeton, what do you propose we do?"

"Well, in darker times and with more extreme measures, Saturn for his treachery should by rights be liquidated," said Phaeton. "But!" she quickly added. "We are far above such things."

Saturn curled his lip and sneered.

"I'm grateful, Commander Phaeton," he retorted.

"You had better be, Commander Saturn, for as of this moment your life with Team Galaxy rests in the hands of your team. For the sake of keeping internal peace we will vote, everyone in this room, whether or not to keep you as the leader."

"Master Akagi—" Saturn began.

"Isn't here, unfortunately," said Phaeton. She closed her eyes a moment and upon opening them again she said, "Everyone who thinks that Commander Saturn should keep his position as boss of Team Galaxy say 'aye'."

Akagi had never believed in the democratic vote.

Leaping from her seat, Mars screamed her "Aye!" as loud as she could.

The company cringed.

"Loudness does not make your vote any greater," remarked Phaeton.

"Ug," murmured Jupiter rubbing her tender ear.

"Everyone who thinks Commander Saturn should be removed from his position say 'Nay'."

Although not quite as loud as Mars' answer, the nays had it this time. Saturn noticed with that Nobu sided with neither. Perhaps he had been too devastated to state his opinion on the subject as loyal as he had been to Akagi and to his successor Saturn. Saturn stared down at the table in defeat. There was no hope now, but he straightened himself quickly afterward. He could retain as much dignity as he could before the end, and he vowed right then that this would not be the end.

"Commander Saturn," said Phaeton. "I must ask you to retire from office. I also must ask you to return your pokémon."

Saturn's eyes flashed as he threw his head up to her.

"It is standard procedure that a leader removed from office to be kicked out of the team," said Phaeton. "In case of leadership rivalry."

"You just made that up!" snapped Mars.

"Is that a challenge, Mars?" Her tone was almost mocking, which made it all the more menacing.

Mars gulped and slumped into her seat with a shake of her head.

"Good," said Phaeton. She leered at Saturn. "Place your pokéballs on the table."

"Not all of my pokémon were given to me through Team Galaxy," Saturn reminded her.

"I know," said Phaeton.

"As a former member of Team Galaxy," said Jupiter, "you should know that everything beneficial to Team Galaxy is property of Team Galaxy."

"A pokémon that would obey only me would not be beneficial to a team without me," said Saturn.

"He's talking about Shinx," said Mars. "Just let him keep her, will you?"

_You're not helping, _Saturn told her mentally in passing her a dark look.

"Shinx is the most valuable of all his pokémon, except perhaps Toxicroak," said Pluto with a wry smile before turning to the young man in question. "You have no choice but to comply, Commander Saturn."

"Oh, shut up, old man," said Saturn. "You've longed for this day since the moment I set foot in this miserable hole."

Nevertheless, taking the pokéballs from his pocket he placed them on the table in front of Phaeton.

Phaeton said nothing, but stroked her persian and looked at Saturn only through the corner of her eye.

"There's only four pokéballs," said Jupiter. "Where's Shinx?"

With a roll of his eyes, Saturn reached for Shinx's pokéball and placed it with care onto the table beside the others.

"I suppose you will be ripping the insignia off of my uniform and cutting my bangs so they no longer resemble Team Galaxy style?" mocked Saturn.

"No," said Phaeton.

"You just go now," said Jupiter. "With your shame. We trusted you, Saturn, and you've betrayed us."

Saturn opened his mouth to reply, but Phaeton spoke before him.

"No," she said. "He cannot go just yet. In fact he is not to leave at all. Saturn cannot be trusted. He has spent his whole life in Team Galaxy. He has nothing else. To kick him out would just be prolonging a vengeance which would one day return and every person in this room cannot deny that Akagi did well in recognizing the boy's natural skill and cunning."

Mars leapt from her seat. "_Matte_!" she cried, and climbed right over the table to reach Phaeton's side. She grabbed Phaeton's arm and begged, "You can't kill Saturn! I won't let you kill him."

"You just said so yourself, Phaeton, that we're beyond such things," Pluto sniffed.

The urge to punch that old lout surged through Saturn, but he did nothing outwardly. He observed rather that Pluto's comment however annoying to him seemed to be just as annoying to Phaeton, who gave him an irritated frown.

"Get a hold of yourself," said Jupiter to Mars as she dragged the poor thing to her feet and pulled he, not rough, away from Phaeton. "Phaeton wouldn't kill him." Though she too eyed Phaeton with discomfort by this time.

"We're not going to kill him," said Phaeton. "We're going to just ensure he cannot interfere with Team Galaxy."

"How?" Jupiter demanded.

"My persian," said Phaeton, turning to her beloved pet, "knows amnesia, and although in battle it is not a very good attack overall, if directed at a human, it does exactly what its name implies."

It was not common practice to learn what affects pokémon attacks have on humans, but Phaeton had taken it upon herself to know this fact and more. It was one of the orders given to me by the departed Akagi to know how pokémon attacks affected humans, and she learned it well just as everything else she did. No one questioned that such a fact as she had placed before the meeting was anything but one hundred percent true.

Saturn's eyes narrowed as Phaeton turned to the two strongest of her own hired grunts. Her nod of command would have sent chills down the spine of anyone weaker, but no one could call Saturn a weakling. To him this meant only time for action; though he did admittedly feel a small surge of illness wash through him at the thought of losing his memory however short he allowed the thought to linger.

Leaping back, he tried to make for the door, but the two grunts proved fast and strong, and even the slipperiest cat cannot escape unprepared and cornered. With one grunt on each arm, they pulled him back to Phaeton whose black eyes held all the coldness of empty black space in the universe.

"_Chotto matte_!"

Everyone turned with surprise to see that Nobu had spoken, and for the first time he looked more than a fixture of the room. He looked alive with convulsion. So abrupt was this change however that Nobu tripped over himself and the pokéball nearest him, which happened to be the one that held Shinx (not unnoted by Phaeton who instantly leered at Nobu), tumbled to the floor and opened.

"Shinx! Flash!" cried Saturn.

With a cry of consent, the feline creature used its electric pulsed body to create a blinding flash, which stunned not only Persian but everyone else in the room, except maybe Phaeton, but she could not see enough to stop Saturn's escape before he broke through the glass of the window. Sharp shards flew past him as he leapt followed by Shinx out into the tangles of brambling shrubbery under the window. Although cut and scraped with thorns and glass, he landed neatly enough to keep going after his leap, and with Shinx's pokéball tucked safely in his pocket upon returning her, he ran into Vilestone City.

"Stop him!" he could hear Jupiter shout, but it was not long before he heard a great clang and Jupiter apparently had become unconscious.

"Take that!" cried Mars.

Saturn could not help but smile, but he knew her distraction would just buy time.

Oh, how he hated Phaeton. He would get revenge on her. Oh, how he would get revenge. That woman had turned almost the entire team against him leaving only Nobu and Mars to back him up. At least he felt a little better knowing that Nobu had not agreed to melting Saturn's brain, but he probably believed what Phaeton wanted them to believe about him being a traitor. His will power was not the strongest.

The team would be after him. He had no doubt. He had to leave the region. Maybe leave the Nation. But where would he go?

* * *

**JAPANESE PHRASES**

_Hai_: Yes

_Hontou: _Really

_Jaa_: Well then …

_Matte: _Wait

_Chotto matte: _Wait a minute


End file.
